The use of scaffolding for construction, renovation or maintenance of buildings is well known. Scaffolding provides a working platform for workers to safely access areas of the building that would otherwise be too high or inaccessible from the floor. Scaffolding may also incorporate safety barriers, which reduces the chance of the workers, tools, loose material and debris from falling from the confines of the scaffolding. Thus the use of scaffolding is important in ensuring a safe work site.
Conventional scaffolding can take varying forms, although it generally consists of vertical and horizontal members supporting a platform. In the past, scaffold structures were constructed from wood, and in some countries, bamboo scaffolding comprising of lengths of bamboo tied together is still used.
Modern day scaffolding generally comprises of a system of tubular metal pipes coupled together, and tied to the building to form the overall scaffolding framework. Scaffold planks, supported by the transoms of scaffolding framework provide the working platform. Such systems are known as “modular scaffolding”, with individual tubular metal pipes, coupling and ties as the basic modular units.
Such prior art scaffolding require experienced scaffolders to carefully assemble the tubes, couplers and boards together to form the scaffolding. Consequently, for a large structure this requires significant skilled labour, time and cost to safely erect the scaffolding.
Furthermore, even a scaffolding of modest size would contains hundreds of components to be fit together and checked. Thus the integrity of the scaffolding structure is dependent on the scaffolder diligently installing and checking each component. With the pressure of time, fatigue or inclement weather, the scaffolder may be overburdened, leading to possible errors. Also the large number of components of the prior art system requires significant time to erect, and during this erection stage of the scaffolding, the workers around the unfinished scaffold would be working under perilous, and potentially hazardous conditions.
In prior art systems, the design of metal tubular pipes, also pose rigidity problems when coupling the scaffold together. As couplers generally rely on passing a section of the tubular pipe through an aperture or clamp in the coupler, there is little resistance to rotation around the axis of the pipe. That is, the coupling and tubular pipes may act as a pivot, rather than a rigid joint. Therefore, in prior art systems, it is essential to incorporate braces to increase rigidity of a large scaffold system.